


define "victim"

by orphan_account



Category: Everyman HYBRID
Genre: @evan i like to think of this as what happened right before the #abuse rp, Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Gen, another kin memory, vinny gets beat up basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 11:49:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12365133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: vic·tim/ˈviktəm/nouna person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action.synonyms: sufferer, injured party, casualty; fatality, loss..."a victim of habit"





	define "victim"

he should have asked himself,  _"where did this stuff come from?"_

he should have told himself,  _"leave it alone, you need to stay sharp."_

in both cases, the keyword is should, & not had - unfortunately. after finally managing to fall into an exhaustion-induced sleep, vincent had awoken from yet another nightmare & found himself face to face with a whole bottle of vodka. it was just... there. (he'd sat up, rubbed his eyes, adjusted his glasses & looked again, only to make another confirmation.) this was the expensive, hard stuff, & the seal was unbroken. vincent, staring long & hard, had made no action for a few minutes. ultimately, he'd decided to throw caution to the wind, even though he'd never really been a drinker before this. the bottle opened easy, but the liquid burned going down. why would he do this? perhaps he'd wanted to drown his sorrows, or drink himself to death. either way, his efforts failed, & he only felt worse. he only ever gets to feel worse.

tolerance low, it hadn't taken him long to get absolutely smashed. his head spun & he'd felt sick & he somehow managed to set the bottle down without spilling it all over the place before he curled up & shook. his emotions only felt deeper, the numbing effect he'd yearned for entirely absent. suddenly too stiff on the floor, vince decided to venture upstairs, to one of the beds. usually, he avoided them, because he didn't want to think about what happened to the people who they had once belonged to. it didn't feel as important in that moment, world spinning around him as the wall led him to the stairs. & he probably wouldn't have been able to make it up that stairway at all, but he never got to try. vinny never got to try because someone else, something else, got right in his way - literally. reflexes slowed, he stumbled directly into habit.

"evan?" the hopeful quality of his slur was cute, but this obviously wasn't his boyfriend. he couldn't tell, he couldn't tell; the difficult task of telling them apart had now become entirely impossible for the poor man, an easy target for any malicious being at all. he may not deserve any of it, almost an undeniable fact. yet, that doesn't matter to the world, or to the specific malicious being in his situation. what awful news for him.

teeth flashed before him in an awful smirk of a grin. oh, he was sick of the smile. the smile & the laugh. they nearly gave him panic attacks every time he thought about them. before he could try to take back his question, correct himself, he felt fingernails dig into his throat, forcing him against the wall. vince could breathe, but just barely. he had to fight for every gasp. voice comparable to the growl of a rabid hound, the monster snapped, "guess again, vinny."

"...ha- hhh- hnng-" a second answer faded into meaningless noise which then died into silence, the hand around his throat getting to tight for him to manage. tears built up in the corners of his eyes, tears that he no longer had any power over. even the little control he'd had was gone, & he'd practically thrown it away himself like the idiot he'd always been. self-hate gathered in his chest - perhaps it was a makeshift replacement for the oxygen which he was being deprived of. habit showed no sign of letting go, & it scared vin. it scared him real bad - everything habit did scared him real bad.

"so, you actually drank it! some of it, at least. haha, you're such a pussy. i drive you to drink, huh?" uncut nails squeezed his neck so hard that crescent shapes were punctured into his skin, just a couple drops of blood pooling over them. that was when habit let go, allowing vincent to gasp & cough for just a few seconds before he made a fist & threw a punch, right in the center of his face. then, he did it again, as if for good measure. a cry left vin's lips, knees buckling at first & then giving out underneath him with the second blow. he fell to the ground before habit, kneeling as if in worship. wasn't that what he wanted? didn't he want to be worshipped? didn't he want to be a- "stand the fuck up, vin. i didn't tell you you could sit your ugly ass down."

if he was a dog, his tail would've been between his legs. even before everything, he had been a very submissive person. a total pushover. vince was afraid of everyone & everything, & he did what people told him to because of the irrational yet crippling fear that they were going to hurt him. this was even worse. this was worse, because there was nothing irrational about his fears & he had no one to help him calm down. everyone was dead, & evan had given up. vin knew that he was next. when would he be allowed to die? with no point in trying to survive, he let the entity do whatever he wanted to him. he didn't care, it didn't matter, because one thing was going to happen to him regardless of anything he tried.

& so, he did stand. he stood even though his glasses were broken & his nose throbbed & he could feel blood on his upper lip. vince learned long ago that following orders would bring less pain, even if that pain didn't stop entirely. he focused on trying to stop himself from crying, which didn't work at all. at least he could keep the tears in his eyes for a while, until everything got too blurry & he had to blink them out. his dark gaze fell, unable to maintain their contact, too under-confident to do such a thing for even a few seconds. he had to look again, however, even though it made him shake, because he heard habit hiss, "look at me. look me in the eyes."

black into purple. they both stared. one of them was terrified, & the other exhilarated. it was a terrible thing, feeding off of someone's misery, but he hadn't cared before & he wouldn't care now. the predator squeezed the taller man's arm & he pulled him away from the wall, giving him a little forward shove once there was only air & the floor around him. if he were sober, he would've caught his balance. he wasn't, & he didn't. instead, he fell, throwing up his hands to meet the ground first. somewhere, he knew that this wasn't the right way to fall, that he was going to hurt himself even more. that knowledge wasn't making it to him in time to stop him from sending a sharp pain through his wrists, up to his shoulders, entire body jolting. in this vulnerable hands & knees position, habit turned & kicked him in the side, rendering him sprawled out on the ground with a whine. once again, "stand up."

another attempt began, starting with a kneel. he got kicked down, subjected to that awful laugh. "i said,  _stand up._ didn't think you were this dense." shown a shred of false mercy, vin was allowed to get to his feet once again while the entity spoke, head angled straight down like an ashamed child. he was pushed from the front this time, an unsteady footing somehow leading his right shoulder-blade to take the most impact. he only sniffled from the ground, afraid of being talked down for his cries. & he knew what was going to happen next, what was going to happen again.

"stand up."

it was a vicious, unending cycle. on habit's command, he would somehow force himself up - as long as he wasn't kicked back down first - only to be shoved to the floor. his shoulders hurt, his hands hurt, from the repetitive trauma. over & over & over again. vin fell into some sort of daze, losing track of how much time had passed & how many times he'd hit the ground. he was certain that this would end eventually, & he would be fine. but, then, he wasn't. one particularly hard push, & he was suddenly in a whole new world of pain. vin could hear something in his shoulder rip when he landed, a long & loud noise. his arm felt like it was on fire, & he screamed, retreating into the fetal position on the floor - or, at least, he tried to. his arm, his right arm, it wouldn't move. that was what really terrified him. the other being was telling him to get up, to stand, but he couldn't hear it, he wasn't listening. his stomach twisted & he shook with sobs, only snapped back into reality when he was kicked & habit honest to god screamed. "useless piece of shit! who do you think you are, fuckin' with me? stand the fuck up!"

"i c- ca- i ca-" the words were lost, evaporating into sobs. he didn't know what was wrong or what was going to happen, but her certainly wouldn't last long like this. & even though he'd hoped that this would be enough, that it would appease the monster, it didn't seem to. maybe he'd been having too much fun with his game, for he was enraged like a spoiled child with a broken toy. just as he always did, he took out his fury on his victim, a punishment for not being strong enough to play with. being poorly curled up wasn't enough to save vinny, as his attacker's foot contacted with every part of his body imaginable. he didn't have to look to know that he was covered in bruises, & blood still leaked from his nose. instead of begging for it to stop, he bit everything back, crying wordlessly.

then, it finally, finally, ended. vinny's eyes were squeezed shut at that point, but the last thing he felt was habit forcing him out of his ball of protection & stomping on his stomach. it brought him this close to vomiting, but he swallowed it down. something burned in his throat like his drink had while he heard footsteps leave him, not another word spoken between the two of them. he was glad. everything the other said made him feel worthless, made him feel like dying. oh, he wanted to die, he wanted to die. vince couldn't take this abuse anymore.

thoughts of the end were the last ones he had before he was out cold. at least he didn't hurt as much in his pain- & alcohol-induced slumber.


End file.
